SILK AND COLOURthis artist's perspective on living a creative life in a chaotic world

This is the final work in the Heaven and Earth Series that will be on exhibit in my solo show at Arps Gallery in Amsterdam from October 19 to 29. It's called Ephemeral and is an interpretation of a satellite image of Lake Carnegie in the Pilbara region of Western Australia.

Lake Carnegie only holds water after torrential rains that occur only every 30 years or so. In between times it is marsh land. Of course, I have played with the colour, a lot!

My aim in this piece was to accentuate the islands and land masses that project into the lake by using lots of raised texture. I did this with extensive use of mountmellick thorn stitch and palestrina stitch. (Don't forget that if you want a larger image you can double click on the image).

I filled the areas between the raised stitching with long stitches in varying orientations.

I deliberately kept the land areas surrounding the lake simple in stitch and colour, creating simple contours to describe the landscape and providing a simple framework for the more intensively worked lake lands.

The lake waters are described entirely by the underdyeing, except for the double row of running stitches that defines the water around the land masses.

A single area of landlocked water is worked in the thickest threads used on the piece. Lushly textural it draws the eye to its singular form within the whole.

I hope you enjoyed looking at Ephemeral. If you are in Amsterdam between October 19 and 29 please come over and take a look. Thanks for dropping by...

This piece, titled The View from the Top, is based on a satellite image of the Himalayas. From space it appears as a complex web of snow capped peaks and valleys dissected by river beds. To try to reproduce every detail would have resulted in a dead composition that would not have come close to capturing its breathtaking beauty. Instead I paired it down to the bare essential lines and textures. I wanted the piece to be expansive, to give a sense of quietude, to breathe.

At 100cm x 65 cm this is the largest piece I have worked so far. I used fine chinese filature silk to get maximum shine and reflectivity from the stitching.

The stitching is very fine, but there is a lot of texture provided through the use of various stitches, with palestrina stitch featuring along all of the knobby "ridge lines".

From a distance the stitching appears largely white, but up close delicate colour plays up the details.